Force Of Nature
by howl jenkins
Summary: Being the eldest,Sophie believed that she would fail at anything. Then, the Prince falls inlove with her, only to have him disappear. Not only that, but she ends up meeting the infamous Wizard Howl by chance, which leads to other unlucky situations...


**Author's Notes**: Ever since I saw Howl's Moving Castle by Hayao Miyazaki, I knew that I wanted to write a fanfic or two about it. This fic's just an idea I had the other day. Sophie meets the Prince first, but then later on she meets Howl, gets cursed by the Witch of the Waste, and so on and so forth. Once the contract's broken, then things will start going another way. I'm sorry if Sophie's a bit OOC, I think I'm going to stay true to the Movie!Verse, but have a few things here and there from the book.

**Disclaimer:** Howl's Moving Castle (both the book and the movie) are not mine. I'm just another fangirl who wanted to write a fic. xD

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**Chapter one:**

_A visit of a most peculiar kind_

Being the eldest, Sophie Hatter always believed that she would receive the worst luck. The older she became, the more she saw that her belief was actually quite true. It didn't matter how big or small the situation was, but in whatever happened she would receive the short end of the stick.

_"It comes of being the eldest..."_ is what she'd usually say whenever things like that happened.

The one thing Sophie could account for having good luck, was with her handcrafting skills. Especially the hats she would help make for her father's hat shop. Sometimes her sisters, Lettie and Martha, would help as well, but they could never make a hat as beautiful or as divinely skilled like their older sister.

She remembered the one time Martha tried to make a hat similar to one that Sophie had made the other day. (It was pink with a few feathers and a couple of beads embedded into the fabric) The look on Martha's face when the beads, along with the feathers, fell when she tried on the hat was priceless. (At least, to Sophie it was.) There was also the one time Lettie would try making a hat, only to have it coming out to look much more like a bird than a hat.

It was because of Sophie's hats that the hat shop had many customers. The customers ranged from citizens of the middle-class, the lower-class and in some rare glimpses, royalty as well. Sophie remembered a particular day when she was stationed at the register. She hated dealing with the customers and much rather enjoyed her own company. Fanny, her stepmother, insisted that she tried at least once and that was how Sophie ran into that situation.

Near noon of that day, an unfamiliar customer entered the shop. She had never seen him before, but from the looks of what he was wearing, he seemed to be of great importance! His hair was a color gold that matched his suit quite nicely. His blue eyes glanced around at the many hats on display and it seemed to her that he had no idea which hat to pick. Sophie amused at the fact that perhaps this man was one of those men she'd hear about from the other customers who would chitter and chatter about during the day...

It was then that the man averted his attention towards Sophie. He approached her and then smiled. (She figured he must've been quite the charming man, after all she can't seem to forget his smile.) She couldn't help but fluster as he spoke...

"Excuse me miss..." he began, placing two hats he had taken from their respected displays on the register table. "I was wondering, which of these hats looks preferable?"

If he couldn't tell, Sophie could tell indeed. She noticed that even though he tried to give a brave front, this man acted rather nervous. A thought, Sophie believed, was quite intriguing. If she had been another girl, one who was much more glamorous and as much more beautiful than she, then the man would have a reason to be nervous. Being her plain self, there'd be no reason at all to be nervous. As soon as the thought that perhaps the man had found her, somewhat attractive crossed her mind, she let out a mental snort.

Looking down at the two hats, she picked up the one on the right. "Well, this one is rather, _plain._ On the other hand, it would look rather charming on you..."

She wasn't sure what had happened to make him laugh, but that's exactly what he did. Perhaps he was just laughing at her suggestion that something so plain could look nice on him, or rather 'charming'.

"Oh my dear, I'm so sorry I haven't explained thoroughly. The hat isn't for _me_, it's for my mother. "

At this Sophie felt rather dumb. Another wave of red flushed on her cheeks, and was on the verge of asking for his forgiveness for being so stupid before the man gently grabbed the hat from Sophie replacing his hat with that one.

"But, I do believe it looks quite nicely on me," he remarked, before taking it off to place it back on the table. It was there that his eyes met hers for the first time, and in that moment he simply smiled and then added, "Perhaps maybe even _charming._"

Not only had his comment made her fluster, but that smile made her even redder in the face that she already was. "I - I believe so..." she remarked. Afterwards, there was a pausing silence between the two. It went on for a good few seconds (Though, Sophie believed it felt like it went on much longer than that.) until the man broke the silence.

He smiled once more as he spoke, "I'm afraid I have many things on my agenda today. So, if you wouldn't mind..."

Sophie quickly sunk back to reality, coming down from wherever she was, smiling back. "Are you certain you'd want that hat instead of the other? I'm sure your mother would much rather prefer one with many designs than a simple one with a single flower..."

"If I'm not mistaken, this one was the one you preferred?"

Sophie nodded, "But still...!"

"Since you prefer it, I'm sure my mother will prefer it as well." The man passed her the money, in exchange for the hat he had just purchased incased in a white box with the sign "Hatters" painted in gold letters across the box in the middle. Placing the box underneath his left arm, he took off his hat and bowed. "It was a pleasure meeting you."

"You're welcome..." she muttered as he left, closing the door behind him.

Once Fanny and her sisters returned, she told them of her strange encounter with this man. Her stepmother immediately jumped at the idea that he might consider courting Sophie. Her sisters were excited to hear this as well, but Sophie knew that a man as important as him could never be interested in her. After all, she was rather plain. Besides, she doubts that the man would ever come back again.

It wasn't until one day, not too long after her first encounter with him, that she saw him again. These encounters became frequent, but since Sophie was too busy making the hats in the back of the shop, he didn't get to catch her as often. When Fanny noticed that the man began to make frequent visits to the shop, she immediately placed Sophie at the register, much to her dismay.

Sometimes he would enter the shop and browse around, but it wasn't the hats that caught his gaze. Other times he would make conversation with her, in which Fanny and her sisters asked about later on. Even though they have talked many times, Sophie still did not know his name. She wasn't exactly keen on asking him, and for awhile it remained that way. (Fanny believed that she was sure she had seen him somewhere before, but had forgotten exactly where…)

The man had also brought in more customers. She didn't know why, but many people would crowd around the shop, sometimes even peering through the window glass just to get a look at him. One day she was rather startled, as well as himself, when one woman pressed herself against the window glass. Judging by her size, Sophie remarked jokingly that perhaps she had mistaken him for a cheesecake or some other sort of dessert because of the color of his suit. (One which so perfectly matched the color of his hair) The man laughed and remarked in return that maybe the woman had mistaken _her_ for some sort of pastry in which Sophie said…

"Surely she must be mistaken! What kind of dessert would I be to her, anyways?"

In which the man replied in a smile, "One exceptionally sweet."

It seemed that the man did not think before he spoke, because right at that moment his cheeks flustered with a shade of red and pink that Sophie was sure could match his tie. "F-Forgive me..." he quickly remarked.

Sophie shook her head, and laughed. (Though, at his first remark she flustered a shade of red and pink that matched his tie as well!) The man joined in and laughed alongside with her.

There was also a time when the man didn't come at all. At one point, her sisters made fun of her stating that Sophie must've driven him away with her laugh. Sophie remarked that perhaps it was because she wasn't as beautiful as her sisters, and that perhaps he had found someone else who was much more beautiful and who wasn't such a bore.

He appeared once more a couple of weeks afterwards. What surprised Sophie and her sisters along with Fanny was that he brought a bouquet of flowers. When she asked who they were for, he replied nervously "For the shop. I noticed before my long departure that the previous flowers in the vase were wilting, and so I decided to buy some new ones."

Martha remarked that the flowers were most likely for Sophie. "After all, I saw him take notice of the new flowers on the vase!"

In spite of all the positive reviews about the man and his supposed 'obvious' feelings for her, Sophie could never believe that he could ever like her. She didn't know all that much about him except for a few things, and it's only been such a short time she had met him. Sophie mused that it would take much longer than that to 'fall in-love'.

It was rather unusual that the man had not given his name to Sophie, but then again neither did she. The next day the man did not show up at all, but her stepmother did. It was late in the early evening when her stepmother came running it, clutching a small leaflet in her hand. "Sophie! You won't believe what I found out today!"

According to Fanny, there has been news all around town that the eldest Hatter daughter is being courted by a rather...powerful man.

"He's a prince! And not only just a prince, but the King's younger brother!" Fanny exclaimed, wrapping her arms around Sophie in a tight embracing, sending them both to the ground with a loud thud. "Sophie! This is wonderful! Now you can seek your fortune with the prince!"

Sophie wasn't entirely sure what to say, but everything that she had just heard seemed to make sense. Well, _some_ sense. She had no idea why a prince out of all people would want to court her, and believed that something must be wrong with him in the head to want to in the first place.

After she had heard all Fanny had to say, she retreated to her room to think. Lying on her bed, she turned her head towards her hat and looked at it. She had a habit of speaking to things whenever her stepmother or her sisters weren't around. Though, one would think of her to be mad if they had ever seen her do such a thing.

Taking her hat, she sighed and looked at it as she spoke:

"I don't know why a prince out of all people would want to court me." She sighed, placing her hat to her side. Now turned towards her window, she began to think that perhaps this was all just a rumor and nothing more. After all, the people here loved to gossip and chitter-chatter about useless things. Sophie was sure this rumor was one of those things discussed because of appearance.

Knowing that she was being talked about, Sophie felt a great misfortune. Now everyone will bother her about the prince, and ask her stupid questions. Not only that, but she was sure that many of the older ladies would gossip about going:

"The Prince is courting the oldest Hatter daughter? But she's so plain!"

She imagined that it would go a little something like that. Rising from her bed, Sophie walked towards her mirror before glancing at herself.

"It comes of being the eldest..." she remarked, before walking out of her room.

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Some notes: Sophie and her sisters are still living in the hat shop with Fanny. (Later on they go to their apprenticeships.) Critics, be my guess and have fun at this one. I tried my best to keep the grammar and flow of the story neat, but if there's any errors feel free to correct them. I also need a Beta, since my grammar isn't all that good. Hopefully I'll have one soon. 


End file.
